• 2021-04-14
    The 1918 Pandemic
    Narrator: November 1918, Armistice Day. Around the world, people celebrate the end of four years of 1 . But there’s another horror unfolding in the shadow of war. A deadly 2 sweeping the world. Schools and theatres are shut down. Coffins are 3 high. The flu pandemic kills over 4 people. Many of them die cruelly.
    Doctor: She’d finally drowned in her profuse, thin, bloodstained sputum, constantly bubbling forth.
    Narrator: Only by going back to rare and previously unseen letters, diaries and memoirs of those who fought the 5 can we fully understand what happened.
    Nurse: Just try and breathe.
    Narrator: The heroic efforts of nurses and doctors. Fateful decisions of key officials.
    Officials: The relentless needs of warfare justify the risk of spreading infection.
    Narrator: The experience of ill and the dying.
    Girl: My grandmother tells me my mother has gone to Jesus. But I want my mummy back.
    Narrator: Hidden in this personal testimony are clues that can benefit us today.
    Male Voice: What if the apocalyptic 1918 pandemic were to recur? That’s a scary prospect.
    Narrator: Pinpointing the lessons learned and mistakes made in 1918 will help prepare us for the next global 6 .

    Female Voice: Everybody would agree that another flu pandemic will happen. And what 1918 does is illustrate to us how bad it could be.